Mozambique

Population (2014 est.): 24,692,144 (growth
rate: 2.45%); birth rate: 38.83/1000; infant mortality rate: 72.42/1000;
life expectancy: 52.6. note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2014 est.)

Geography

Mozambique stretches for 1,535 mi (2,470 km)
along Africa's southeast coast. It is nearly twice the size of California.
Tanzania is to the north; Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to the west; and
South Africa and Swaziland to the south. The country is generally a
low-lying plateau broken up by 25 sizable rivers that flow into the Indian
Ocean. The largest is the Zambezi, which provides access to central
Africa.

Government

Multiparty republic.

History

Bantu speakers migrated to Mozambique in the
first millennium, and Arab and Swahili traders settled the region
thereafter. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and first colonized
by Portugal in 1505. By 1510, the Portuguese had control of all of the
former Arab sultanates on the east African coast. Portuguese colonial rule
was repressive.